Absorption apparatus



March 24,- 1925.

F. E. LlcHTENTHELr-:R

ABsoRPTIoN APPARATUS Filed May 28. 1921 Patented Mar. `24,- y1925.

UNITED STATES 1 PATENT oFFlcE.= 1

FRANK E. non'rnNTrrAnLEn,4 or NEWTON HIGHLANDS, MASSACHUSETTS.

lABsonrTIoN APPARATUS.

i 'Application filed May 28, 1921. Serial No. 473,432.1 i

To all whomz't may concern: f

"Be it f known that `I,*FRANK EDWARD LICHTENTHAELER, a citizen Vof the *United States, residingl at Newton Highlands, in

5 the county ofMiddlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain vnew and` names, such as 'scrubbers,t absorbers or washers, depending kupon theultimate purpose sought to! be attaine'dby bringing gases and liquidsy into contact gwi-tlr one another. For example, it is 'oftentimes necessary to remove certain valuable productsv from gases; or to absorb `a 'gas in a liquid; 'or

to freev kthe gas from` an undesirable con-` stituent which can be dissolved outby a liquid andtgtherapparatus 'used for :these purposes was successively `designated as va' scrubber, absorber or a washer. 1 'i Heretofore, vvarious types of apparatus have been proposed for i affording contact between' liquids and' gases. v'lhemosteliicient of such prior apparatus comprises the cap 'and seal towers in which'thev gas is iliade to bubble through `liquid entrapped on horizontal trays `or decks. paratusof this type affords efficient contact between the gas and' liquid, it'has, however, the inherent disadvantage of back pres-f sure opposing the flow of the gas* When large volumes of gasare to be treated, this type of apparatus is unsuitable for use be# causey .of the necessi-ty of raising the pre ssure of the 'large volume of gas toaf'point such that it may overcome the opposing back pressure ofthe "cap and "se-al' tower. @It `isobviousthatthe power consumed and expense incurred in L' boosting the pressure of a large y'volume .of gasin this manner is such as to render the' apparatus uneconomical for use in such instances.' Other types of prior contactlapparatu'shave vincluded hurdle towers in which wooden slats are piledfin stacks within',the towers., The liquid is'supplied to the top of the tower and flows rapidly `by gravity downwardly over the wooden hurdles. Instead of the" wooden hurdles other filling 4material has been used'such as coke, broken quartz, clayf balls or cylinders, and various other shapes speciallyprepared to. increase thel contact surface. The 'chief disadvantage ofv these prior. constructions havingthe'wooden hurdles or other fillingmaterial, resides in the tendency vof the liquid to channel as it is passing downwardly through the tower. The tendency of a body of liquid in striking ra'woodenboardj is to converge into a single stream during' its flowxacross 'the surface of the board thereby wetting the board only in amore yor less funnel shaped path. Obviously this leavesv a large por,- tion of` thesurface of theboard- `dry.` This phenomenon is referred to as channeling.` In practice it has been foundy that in or# der to overcome the `channeling effect large quantities lof liquid must be supplied to thetop of the tower, and *if supplied in sufficient volume will maintain thesurfaces of the hurdles or other filling material fairly wete-as it falls rapidly throughthe tower. The deluge of water or other liquid whichv must .be continually supplied Ito the tower in order'l to secure eiiicie'nt' absorption or contact ybetween the liquid and the gas' de-` tracts from the pra'cticability ofthese towers for handling largel volumes of gas. Furthermore, the filling material itself occu pies a relatively ylarge proportionl of the space within the tower. For example, in; the ordinary hurdle tower, the contact surface comprises only` approximately eleven squareffeet per cubic foot of tower, while coke and other filled towers approximate only seven square `feet per cubic foot of tower. It 'is therefore obvious that in order to afford the desired `area of contact thetowers themselves must vbe proportion` there areV the mechanically operated .ab-A

sorbers such vas the horizontal Feld type having revolving brooms wet with the absorbing liquor, and other types "depending upon'. centrifugal l'action to form. liquid spray throughout the gas stream. The chief disadvantagewith these mechanically operated absorbers resides in-the continuous power consumption requiredandlin the difiicultly of maintaining them 1n continuous operation.

The present invention has for an object to provide an apparatus for' aif'ording'eiicient contact between a liquid and a gas, which is of simple construction and in which all of the disadvantages:inherentinT` preferred embodiment :ofi the v invention Fi gs.

land 2repre'sen`t side-and'end elevationsy respe'ctive'ly, ofthe: improved app aratus-g Fi 3: is` a: sectionaldetail of'one` ofy theliquid-f spray/nozzles :Figs: t and '5 are'fdet'ails showingfa'portion of the curtains-of fibrous ma# terialf within the tower and they manner 'ofA their suspension;

The improved' apparatus :comprises in -gen eral. a contact chamber: within whichJ the liquid:` and gasa are brought'. intoA contact. Provision'v is; made for supplying: liquid*` at the-desiredVI rate-to one: portion of the; con; tact chamber' andi for supplyin'gfthe.l gas to another. portionv thereof. Withinthecontact clifamber ai body of. fibrous materiah .prefere ablyfin'the'-formfof curtain fabric, ispositione'd 1. so :that the liquidi in passing through the" contacth chamber' falls thereon; The flow of the liquidzis retarfdedby the fibrous materiali and the"- latterf ist thoroughly wet because of its.` capillaryV action upon the liquid 'Lh'eifabric i'sarranged to presenta minimumrestriction toftheipassage of the gas?4 through the contacte chamber-l an'd: inA a manner? such that' the: gas isbrought into contactf with the'liquidt upon the surface of the fabric Because oflthe effect ofthe fabJ ric in;retardingfthel'flow othe'fliquid,E the duriationi ofi contact? betweeni theliquid and kgasi'sincreasedl` to an extent suchV that rela'- tively smalhquantitiesoff liquid supplied to the; apparatusfwill'` servet to efficiently treat relatively` large volumes ofk gas. Furthermorelbec'ause' ofi the character of the fabric an*l increased area` of contact: percubic foot offsp'ace is secured', so thaty apparatus ofrela'- tivelyV small" proportions may.' be= employed to; treat relatively largeM volumes of. gas.

The apparatus illustrated i inv the drawing isdescrbed asfollows: 'Anelongated' cas-in g lissuitably mounted: upon ar base Y 12 and is providecbwith anlinlet 141AAV for: the gas tot be treatedfatrne'ar `thefbottom ofthe casing and also' with.. an;.outlet` 16 near:v the. upper portion .of;theicasing byvwhich the treated gases mayxpasstherefrom. The liquid-to be suppliedtol the? casing. isf pumped into a reser- Voir 18; mounted in thenpper. portion thereof, and. is distributedauniformly in regulated. amounts .iby a: plurality ofi spray" noz.-

tothe walls ofthe casing as shown in:detail' in Figs. fand 5. rlhe curtains are preferably hung. from one-half to three-eighths of an'vinch apart so that the gas passingup wardlyv between adjacent curtains isl forced into; intimate contact with the liquid retainedf byrcapillarity upon the curtain surfaces` The curtains may bestiffenedlatcrally by meansof rodsBO insertedin loops 32,`

as shown in Fig. 5,1 and therods ofy adjacent curtains areP preferably staggered with. relation to one another' so that' the gas in passing around any particular rod may cause the nextadjacent curtain to bulge or giveV way soy thats only veryi slight pressure of the'- gas isfrequired tof cause' its: passage upwardly between each curtain. The supporting rods 3() also `operate as-baiile members -to cause the deflection-of tli'egas onto the surface of the opposingcurtainthereby increasing the contact1 betweenfthe gasiandfthe liquid upon the curtaimnand in: some instances the gasmay even be-forced ythrough'the curtain depending upontlievtexture of thesame: To -assist in the suspension off the curtains, the rods SSO-may beisuspend'ed by: wires` 33 from. the cross members 26 as showniin'Fig. 4;

The liquid as it: is s'prayedover the `top of the curtains runsdown between the su p portfingY bars, spreading across the-entire width of the curtains due to :the capillary action of theV fibrous materialiof,thecurtains upon the liquid- As theliquid on thecurtains flows downwardly thiscapillary action causes a uniformiiow across the entire width of the curtain; and serv-es to 'retard :therate ofi flow of1l the liquid and= to'f increase thel duration of contactbetween the'v gas and. the same. The rate of flow ofv the liquid is infact rendered nearly independent of gravity and dependsv almost entirely upon the quantity ofrliquidinitially sprayedf from the liquid reservoir?. If an increasedflow is desired theratelofflow thercofzfrom thereservoir is increased and viceversa. In this respect therefore thel relative proportion of the liquiditothe. gas may bel nicely adjusted at thewill of the operator which in itself com stitutes a1 great advantage over the co1nmonly usedy hurdle or filled tower iny which afdelugeof liquid is requiredto insure a more or less complete wetting of the surfaces of theV filling material. The liquid flowing downwardly through andl over the curtains counter-current to the ascending gas becomes more and more concentrated in respect i to the materials absorbed from the gas and i finally collects in the bottom of thecasing from which it is drawn through a suitable trap l of any desired construction.

Manlioles 42, 44 are provided in the upper and lower portions of the casing to afford access to the interior thereof so that the curtains may be conveniently suspended or replaced.

Having thus described the in'ventionywhat is claimed is 1. An apparatus for affordingy contact between a liquid and a gas, comprising a con* tact chamber, plurality of curtains of fibrous material suspended vertically within the contact chamber, a plurality of reenforcing members for the curtains arranged to act as bafiie members to deflect thegas in its passage upwardly between the curtains, means for distributing a liquid above the curtains, and means for supplying a gas to a place beneath the curtains to permit it to pass upwardly between the same.

2. A11 apparatus for affording contact between a liquid and a gas, comprising a contact chamber, a plurality of curtains suspended in the chamber, each curtain consisting of a sheet of fibrous material supported from a cross-member and provided with transverse stifi'ener rods at intervals of its length to hold the curtains flat, suspension wires for connecting the stiffeners and crossmembers, and. spraying means at the top of the chamber for distributing the liquid on the curtains, said chamber being provided with openings at the bottom and top of the chamber for induction and eduction of gas.

FRANK E. LICHTENTHAFILER. 

